


I'm About To Change The Ending

by raggirare



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 18:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2077707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raggirare/pseuds/raggirare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A graduation gift to themselves, a last hurrah before their futures drag them in different directions, Rin leads his friends on an adventure through his second home.</p>
<p>(Alternatively; Halfway Across The World Just To Go To The Beach)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm About To Change The Ending

In theory, this entire trip had been an amazing idea.

With all of them going their different ways now that they had finally finished high school, this was going to be their final chance to really enjoy something _together_ in the last moments of something that they were actually sure of - and Makoto could remember countless times when he was younger of wanting to take off overseas and visit his friend in Australia, so finally being able to accomplish that was something incredibly exciting. It was even more exciting to be going not just with Rin, but with Haru as well, and even Sousuke, as reluctant as he had been at first, had caved and agreed to the trip as well.

(Discovering that the largest and most intimidating of their group was the one to be scared of planes was an interesting development and it fell onto Makoto to keep Sousuke collected and calm in the departure lounge because Rin was trying too hard not to laugh and Haru just didn’t seem to care all that much.

On the actual plane, it was a lot harder because Sousuke had been seated near a window and there was Rin, an aisle and Haru between him and Makoto. At least until they were in the air. Once the plane had taken off and levelled out, Sousuke’s hyperventilating evened out and his panic seemed to drain and within a few minutes he was asleep - something which Rin was cursing ten hours later when Sousuke had woken up for their meal and then promptly fallen back to sleep, while the red-head had been unable to even nap.)

Their first week in Australia flew by in a whirlwind of tourist cliches, with Makoto desperately wishing his English was even passable because having to rely on his three companions made him feel like more of a burden than he wanted to be - especially when he got somehow separated from the group in Hyde Park and Sousuke had ended up finding him, only for them both to be unable to find Rin and Haru for a good few hours. They had wandered around together instead, after that, letting their feet carry them wherever the streets would lead, killing the afternoon until their dinner reservation - where they both got an earful from Rin and a pretty decent glaring at from Haru for disappearing and wandering around rather than doing the smart thing and staying in one place.

(Makoto couldn’t really speak for Sousuke, but he thought it had been quite worth it. He’d gotten a chance to actually try and practice some English - because Sousuke was good but he wasn’t great - not to mention the cute little koala keychain now decorating the zip of his bag courtesy of Sousuke’s skill on a crane machine.)

Their week in Sydney ended with a trip to Rin’s old school and meeting some of Rin’s old classmates, and even a relay to prove just how good the swimmers in Japan were - because the fact that Sousuke’s national ranking for their age group hadn’t seemed to be enough proof - and that final morning ended with, much to Sousuke’s chagrin, with another plane ride. This one was much shorter, though, only an hour and a half from Sydney to the Gold Coast and then a short bus ride from the airport to their hotel in Surfers Paradise - their home for the next two weeks.

Haru raced into the water the first chance he got, and Rin wasn’t far behind him, but Makoto decided he was much more comfortable on the sand and he couldn’t really hide his surprise when Sousuke decided he was as well. He hadn’t asked, though, and Sousuke hadn’t explained himself and instead the two had simply laid back on the sand side-by-side in silence and enjoyed the afternoon sun.

\- - -

“Don’t think I haven’t seen what you’re trying to do to Makoto.”

“I wasn’t trying to hide it.”

Rin scowled, tongue flicking across his teeth. He turned his upper body and lifted one leg, using it to regain more momentum before he returned his foot back to it’s position on his board’s deck. There was always something about longboarding that kept Rin calm and relaxed - even more so now that he was back in the very place he had learned to do it - and it made it easier to confront his childhood friend about the things he’d seen over the past week.

“I didn’t even know you were gay, man,” he said with a slight shake of his head, his eyes moving from Sousuke coasting alongside him and out across the beach they were beside to the sea. “You’re meant to tell me this shit. Why the fuck do you have to go after Makoto, anyway? Of all people. He’s way too good for you, Sousuke.”

“Gee, thanks, Rin,” Sousuke rolled his eyes and copied his friend’s earlier movement, kicking at the concrete. He wasn’t nearly as smooth on a longboard as Rin, having only started learning after he’d arrived at Samezuke, but he was comfortable enough to not have any real issues - which was great, really, because Rin’s idea of boarding along the beachside at sunrise just the two of them was something surprisingly relaxing.

The red-head rolled his eyes in return before looking ahead of them both, swerving to one side to give a runner room to pass in the opposite direction. “In case you haven’t noticed, Sousuke, Makoto’s nothing like us,” Rin’s tone softened, sounding almost distant, a hint of worrying slipping into his words. “Even compared to Haru… We’re all fine by ourselves, but Makoto… He needs someone with him. And he’s friendly, but he’s no good at actually making friends unless someone else actively pushes onto him. Haru’s the exception, I guess, but it’s what me and Nagisa had to do.” A sigh passed through his lips and red eyes finally pulled back towards the other male. “We leave Iwatobi in three weeks. If you say anything, you’ll burden him and make him feel guilty for not coming to Tokyo with us. He’s finally chosen something for himself. Don’t ruin it for him.”

A heavy silence fell between them and Rin wasn’t sure what to expect. He was used to silences with Sousuke, because Sousuke was the sort of guy to be more than happy to sit in silence and Rin had long-since grown comfortable with that aspect of his best friend. But the silence right now wasn’t one of friendly comfort. If anything, it felt tense and even a little hostile, things that he didn’t often associate with his fellow swimmer - at least, not to be directed at him.

It was difficult to figure out where to proceed from there, though; unsure what to say or do without knowing exactly what was going on inside Sousuke’s head - something that Rin was rather jealous of Makoto for, because of the way the Iwatobi captain could so easily read Haru regardless of the situation. 

A sighed passed through Rin’s mouth, eventually, and he resigned himself to suffering through the uncomfortable silence and waiting for the other male to finally break it.

Which didn’t take all that long.

“How about we throw down over it?” Sousuke suggested suddenly, catching Rin off-guard and almost making him screw up another propulsion. “If you win, I’ll drop it forever and never bring it up. But if I win, you can’t interfere anymore.”

It surprised Rin, really, that Sousuke was willing to stake something that was potentially incredibly serious on one of their almost childish throw downs, something Rin had always been more likely to win than not, but he said nothing about it and instead just nodded and slowed his board to a stop before kicking it up. He held the front trucks in his left hand, right hand at the ready.

“Which means if you do win, then I’m not helping you at all, either.”

\- - -

Sousuke was confident. Perhaps he came across a little _too_ confident at times, but that was really only when it came to the things that he knew was good at. He would just as easily admit to his own faults if he needed to - so long as it didn’t mean claiming that Rin was better at him than something - so the cocky attitude that came with his swimming skills was eventually balanced out. Not to mention the confidence that he had in his current list of ideas of, ‘Ways To Get Closer To Tachibana Makoto’. He had devised the list based on what he had already learned about the Iwatobi captain over time - both from observation and from conversation, and a little help from Rin here and there - and he would make adjustments where necessary as he learned new things about Makoto, but now he was sure it was perfect.

The first step was pretty easy; breakfast prepared and plated and waiting for Makoto in the very same moment that he arrived in the hotel dining room, giving Sousuke at least five minutes of sitting alone with Makoto while Rin and Haru waited in line to get their own food. It wasn’t as though it was ground breaking conversation, discussing the meaning of life or the birth of the universe or anything of that nature; it was simply discussing how well each other had slept and the plans for the day and it was also the same moment that Sousuke discovered the brunette’s taste for chocolate when green-eyes found the chocolate croissant on Sousuke’s plate that the other swimmer had yet to even consider touching.

(Sousuke didn’t miss Rin’s scowl as the red-head neared the table and Sousuke decided to make a show of transferring the treat from his own plate to Makoto’s and watching as the brunette’s face lit up in surprise and then gratefulness before he finally began to eat it.

Rin had lost that throw down fair and square. Sousuke had every right to flaunt it.)

The second step was even easier because it was down on the beach so Haru was in the water without question and Rin, with no other way to vent his frustration at not being able to interfere, was in the water as well, so Sousuke was able to wander the beach at Makoto’s side undisturbed. The walk was mostly quiet, thinking rather than talking, enjoy each others company and the atmosphere of the beach life, and the small conversations they did have were often quite short and related more to things that Makoto found amongst the sand than anything else. Not that that meant Sousuke was paying attention, because he was. All the little shells and rocks and pieces of debris that the other male was finding came accompanied with a short story of something back home in Iwatobi - about when he was a kid, about his siblings, about his parents, about his friends; about things that seemed small and insignificant but added up to a big picture. Not to mention the fact that Makoto was reacting in such a way to such insignificant pieces of beach treasure spoke hugely about what sort of person Makoto was. Sentimental and open-minded, always letting his mind wonder to think of all sorts of things rather than narrowing his vision and focusing on a single point and thinking of everything in terms of how it related to that single point - something Sousuke knew very well that he was guilty of.

The third step came into play halfway through their first week of soaking up sun on the beach with a smile that Sousuke normally wouldn’t use so freely but couldn’t help but show endlessly when he was with Makoto. It had taken a lot of convincing and gentle urging and reassurances that there was no pressure to be good or anything and failing was fine and if he fell, well, then Sousuke would be there to catch him, and _we can drag Rin and Haru to come and join us as well and make a day of it._ The idea of it being as a group of friends seemed to be enough to really sell Makoto, just like with anything else, but the point was that he had managed to get Makoto to agree to learning to surf and that was what mattered.

(When Sousuke announced the new plans for the following day to Rin that night in their hotel room, it was with a smug look on his face, even when one of horror pulled across Rin’s.)


End file.
